Such Horrible Circumstances
by LovingShadows7
Summary: Romeo and Juliet are dead, however their friends Benvolio and Meredith are still trying to figure things out. In this modern adaptation of a classic by Shakespeare, we see how the small things in childhood can define futures.
1. Chapter 1

Such Horrible Circumstances

A Benvolio Love Story

Chapter One-

Flower by Moby

Meredith's POV-

When I was young I was very unliked by my peers. I had very dark skin, my hair was very short, and my eyes were a very peculiar shade of light green. I was quiet and liked to read, I couldn't ride a bike and I wasn't coordinated enough to play like the others. All in all I was _**that**_ kid on the playground. Then one day an equally quiet boy with bright blue eyes came to my place on the swing. He had his head down and he shuffled his feet in a very weird way as he tried unsuccessfully to tell me his purpose. Suddenly his hand shot out and a bundle of red baby's breath flowers were in front of me. I stared at him and then the flowers and then him again. I slowly reached out a shaky hand and took them gently from his grasp. He took one more look at me and then ran off. I never saw him again, which made my 9 year old self upset. Everyone always leaves.

Wrong place, wrong person, wrong time. That was the way my father tried to explain the death of my best friend to me. It was a romantic notion, two kids blinded by lust and infatuation running off together. It only sweetened the pot when they found that they both came from the others hated family. Yes, so romantic and tragic was the idea to the people that surrounded me. To me, it was an idiotic and underdeveloped thought that only Juliet could have thought of. She was always the dreamer of the two of us, a hopeless romantic. Sometimes I wondered if her lines of reality and fantasy where separated at all. How could she do this, destroy herself like this in the name of something as fickle and stupid as love? I would never know, I was sure of it.

As the minister spoke, talking as if he knew these people personally I looked up to see a startling pair of blue eyes bearing down on me. They quickly shifted away but it was too late, I had already figured out where I had seen those eyes.

Mug shots.

Those eyes belonged to none other than the notorious Benvolio of the Montague clan. He was one of the more level headed of the young men in that rag tag group. He was frequently questioned by my father as to the truth of what had happened during incidences between the Montague and the Capulet. He was honest, apparently highly intelligent, and he was best friend to Romeo Montague, the other victim. He looked tired, circles under his eyes and his skin was pale making his eyes seem bluer than they probably were. He shed no tears, but his hands grasped the chair he sat in tightly, they trembled. His hair was spiked and strawberry blonde much like the punk rocker ways of the Montague boys.

Soon the services ended and I lost sight of him for a while, until I saw him walking towards me. I could handle this encounter with him. After all I had a profile on him already, he wouldn't surprise me. He got closer and closer as I pretended not to notice. When he was a good three feet away he looked down at me with serious eyes. From behind him he brought a single bushel of red baby's breath flowers. My breath caught in my throat.

_Abort Mission, I repeat abort mission._

Benvolio's POV-

Yeah.

That was definitely Meredith.

Just not my Meredith.


	2. Chapter 2

Such Horrible Circumstances

Chapter 2-

Haunted Heart by Little Hurricane

Meredith's POV-

So…

I was wrong, and we all know that…

Benvolio was not only the man I had described but he was the boy who had solidified my complete lack of faith in the human race in terms of compassion. And he stood before me just as humbly as he had that last day that I had saw him as if we were old friends.

**Hell. No.**

I would have to have a little time to think, and it certainly would not be the time to think during the death of my best friend. I turned on my heels and left him standing there holding those damned peasant flowers. He followed me of course, like every clichéd teen movie when the main protagonists have their climactic fight. We weren't the protagonists in this story, those people were dead. Who the hell wants to hear the train wreck of a story that is Benvolio's and Meredith's ongoing acquaintance. But he stopped me near a deserted part of the cemetery and I didn't protest the way I had imagined I would when I fantasized about finally facing the quiet boy with the blue eyes.

"What the hell do you want Montague?" I asked him tugging at the ends of my pea green dress. Green was Juliet's favorite color.

"Why did you run off like that Meredith?" he asked shyly. Apparently we are on a first name basis.

"I could ask you the same thing." I said my eyes narrowing to slits.

"We were 9." He tried to defend his 10 year old actions.

"DOES IT MATTER?!" I yelled losing myself. Things were escalating, mostly because of me. I took a deep breath.

"Why are you so mad. I've seen the way you act on the news. When we were younger you were sweet and quiet. Now people are lucky to see a smirk of irony from you." He said.

I had had enough.

"Don't you dare try to act as if you knew me back then because of some childish crush. You wanna know why I am the way I am? People like you came in and out of my life, giving me hope, that maybe just maybe I could be happy and protected. Then you stole it from me, YOU LEFT ME! How could you do that and then come to me 10 years later as if I haven't changed. I trusted you, if only for a moment, but I trusted you and you didn't understand how much it hurt to me when you ran away like every else had."

I had made my point. He stared down at me, walking slowly to me and handed me those damn red flowers. He walked away once I took them and he didn't look back. When I was sure he was out of sight and not coming back I dropped to my knees breathing very hard. I looked down at the flowers and noticed a little piece of paper attached to it. One word was written, one word that made me so angry at him and me. I steadied my breathing and then picked up the flower making my way back to the funeral.

_To: Meredith_

_**Sorry.**_

Benvolio's POV-

I made her into what I hate her for being.

Jesus…

I'm such a jackass…


	3. Chapter 3

Such Horrible Circumstances

Chapter 3-

Is This Love? by Corrine Bailey Rae

Meredith's POV-

The rest of the funeral went by in a blur for obvious reasons. I didn't see Benvolio at all for the rest of the time I was there I could only assume he had left. I noticed that the head of the Montague clan was no longer there either which lead me to believe that something was to happen. I chose not to tell my father of what I suspected.

It was none of my business anyway.

Benvolio's POV-

I had left with my uncle as a precaution to any unsavory mourners who might not of heard of the permanent cease fire between the Capulet and the Montague. But also because I needed help with Meredith, my uncle was the only one on our side to maintain a healthy marriage, he was my best bet.

"Uncle, can I ask you something?" I inquired as we walked down the beach. He turned to me with kind yet sorrowful eyes and nodded.

"There's a girl…" He began to chuckle making me very nervous about my question.

"Let me guess. Meredith Prince." I looked at him in shock.

"You have been in love with that girl since you were five. When we went to your father's hearing she was there and you were so transfixed that you weren't even upset about the ruling." He said laughing, something I hadn't heard in a while. He was right of course, I did faintly remember the trial but I mostly remember a dark little girl with short braids in a light purple dress. She spent the entire time reading and I spent most of the time transfixed by her.

"So I take it that when you talked to her today the feelings weren't necessarily reciprocated?" He asked already knowing the answer.

"She said that I really hurt her when we were younger, that she trusted me and that I just left her." I answered hearing her words in my head.

"You're going to have to fix it then, Benny." He said using my long dead nickname for when I was a child.

"I don't even know where to begin." I said pathetically. He patted me on the back and led me to the car. We got in and he turned to me, smiling his original smile.

"Let's start small." He said.

Meredith's POV-

I was in my room when I heard a sound from my window, It wasn't like the many sounds that you hear in Verona Beach. It wasn't the cry of a child, or the honking of cars, not even the occasional bout of domestic violence. No this was the sound of a single pebble hitting the stained glass of my window. I went over to it slowly and gasped at when I saw. Written in entirely red baby's breath were three words, three words the made me instantly aware of who had written them.

**The Swing Set**


	4. Chapter 4

Such Horrible Circumstances

Chapter 4-

Glitter In the Air by P!nk

Meredith's POV-

I saw him sitting there on the swing, rocking back and forth looking at the ground. I decided to let him know of my presences.

"Why are you doing this Benvolio?" I asked him. His head snapped in my direction and he got off the swing and came to me.

"Doing what?" He asked seemingly flustered.

"Trying to win me over." I answered. He stared at me for a long while and then spoke softly.

"I owe you an apology Meredith. I didn't know how much you depended on me the way that you did. I was a stupid kid trying to tell you without words how I felt about you. If I would have known you were so damaged I would have never left you. Ever." He said getting even closer, so close I could feel his body heat.

I bit my lip and cursed myself for being so vain. How could I hold him responsible for making me like this, I mean he was right we were kids. He couldn't have possibly known about the damage that had been done to me. I was just as wrong in my doings, and it was time that I fix them. I stepped closer to him hesitantly and looked into those deep ocean blue eyes, seeing nothing but kindness in them.

"I'm sorry I'm so stubborn." I whispered gently. He smirked placing his hands on my hips and pulling our bodies together.

"I'm sorry I made you that way." He whispered back swaying us back and forth. Never had a felt so safe with another person. I stared at him for a while and then without words he bent down and kissed me timidly. I was just as timid in my response, but soon it was if we had kissed a thousand times before. His kisses were filled with reassurance and protection, they made my knees weak.

We sat on the swing for a long time, talking. Sometimes we talked about when we were kids and how we thought about each other. Once in a while we would talk about Romeo and Juliet, what we thought about what they had done. He made me laugh until my stomach hurt and he had his adorable full face smile the entire time.

That was the day I truly fell for the quiet boy with the bright blue eyes.


	5. Epilogue

Such Horrible Circumstances

Epilogue

Tongue Tied by Grouplove

Meredith's POV-

Three years.

Three years of a simple yet special love that would sometimes falter in the wind of change but never die out. So as I sat there, alone in my room staring at my reflection waiting for my father to come and walk me down the aisle, I couldn't stop thinking about Juliet. **I used to think** that her hopelessly romantic ways were stupid and farfetched.

Until Benvolio literally swept me off my feet and we drove to the country. He had placed a candle lit picnic with a three piece string band to play to us all night. We sat under the stars on a blanket as he held my hand. That was our one year anniversary.

**I used to think** that Juliet's perception between real love and infatuation were blurred.

Until the night after Benvolio and I had had a fight and he stood outside in the pouring rain as I yelled at him for God knows what we were fighting about. He waited patiently until I was done taking in everything I had said and then without a word he kissed me like he never had before. This wasn't like our first kiss, shy and unsure. This kiss was unhinged and hungry and it made my knees weak for an entirely different reason. That was the first time he had told me he loved me.

**I used to think** that Juliet dying for love was the stupidest thing I had ever heard.

Until Benvolio asked me to marry him at our swing set and I realized that I might very well die if I couldn't be with him for the rest of my life.

Romeo and Juliet died because they couldn't imagine being in this world without the other even if it meant giving the ultimate sacrifice.

As I walked down the aisle, red baby's breath clutched in my hand I was focused on one thing. As clichéd as it was and as much as I hated myself for saying it.

**All I wanted was the quiet boy with the bright blue eyes.**

Benvolio's POV-

I smiled as I saw her walking in her light lavender colored dress, those red flowers she clung to. I bowed my head a little before looking right at her. Her green eyes bore into mine and I knew what I wanted.

**All I wanted was the dark girl in the light purple dress.**


End file.
